H-D Elementary News 🦃

South Side Elementary has a new Book Nook! This nook, full of FREE books, is located just inside the main entrance. Book donations are accepted. Take a book, leave a book, and have fun reading!

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. We have established expectations for all locations. Students are taught lessons in each location, focusing on how to demonstrate positive behaviors throughout the building. Staff uses a common language when teaching and enforcing these expectations.

Our BARK Expectations are the foundation of our location-specific expectations.

B - Be Safe

A - Act Responsible

R - Respect Others

K - Keep Working Hard

Many students use the school bus for transportation to and from school. It is incredibly important that students follow the bus expectations on their ride. Our bus drivers are responsible for the safety of our students. They must keep their eyes on the road rather than watching for behaviors on the bus. Below are the bus expectations for families to review at home. Thank you for your help to keep our students arrive safely.

Preschool students will be busy this month!

• Mrs. Trosky's class is doing a Clothing Study and learning about Thanksgiving
• Mrs. Wehrhan's class is working on a Ball Study and Thanksgiving
• Mrs. Westhoff's class is working on Friendship and Manners

Our Preschool students LOVED Fitness Friday activities! Students took a well-deserved break and spent some time outside on a beautiful fall day.

Mrs. Wehrhan's Preschool class takes a brain break!

Our Preschool art display looks amazing!

From: Mrs. Plagge

High school students from Mrs. Pralle-Osborn’s class visited Kindergarten last week. Her students were well versed in reading children’s literature. A few of her students could read to us in both Spanish and English!

While reading, they asked us lots of questions. They discussed their interests with us, both likes and dislikes. They increased our LOVE of reading by choosing excellent children’s books to share.

Reading buddy opportunities address the learning needs of both the younger student and the older role model. Through cross-age partnerships, students can improve their reading fluency skills, gaining confidence and ownership in the learning. We notice many literacy benefits as well as the obvious social benefits. I only wish everyone could see all the SMILES in my Kindergarten room when we share good books together. It’s priceless!

As the reality of technology takes over much of our world, it’s important to realize what’s really important. Eye contact, sitting in close proximity without distractions (no phones), creating friendships and having conversations about books, recalling details, making predictions together, and the sheer joy that comes from reading a book together is the best gift you can give a 5 or 6 year old.

The cold temperatures assisted by high winds made the perfect pile of leaves for the Kindergarten students to enjoy. Many spent their entire recess crawling through, tossing, and simply enjoying one of the gifts of fall! Please remember, we get outside as long as the windchill is above 0, so please send your children with warm clothes!

Mrs. Humrichouse's 1st Grade class learned all about what's inside a pumpkin!

When it’s part of your writing curriculum to write a scary story, what better day to celebrate a publishing party than Halloween?

Mrs. Vallery’s students wrote their scary stories. Next, they worked on editing their stories. They added sight and sound words and checked their capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Then the students rewrote their edited stories in their neatest handwriting and created their illustrations. Finally, they practiced reading their stories fluently with expression.

Halloween arrived. The windows were covered with dark paper, a campfire was blazing on the screen, our flashlights were ready, and a few school friends were invited to listen to the wonderful stories.

North Central Iowa Ag in the Classroom recently visited the 2nd grade classes to present a lesson on soybeans. Students learned about the process of producing, processing, and the uses of soybeans once they are processed. They were amazed to learn that soybean products are used to make crayons, diesel fuel, and are used to make chocolate! After the lesson, students played a trivia game to test their knowledge on soybeans. We are always so grateful for these lessons that help our students understand the work in agriculture going on around them!

3rd Grade students practiced their problem-solving and teamwork skills during Guidance class. The students were placed in teams and worked together to solve escape room clues.

North central Iowa Ag In the Classroom organized a farm chat that fit our Social Studies unit perfectly! We discussed how agriculture has changed in Iowa over time. The kids loved watching the combine harvest the corn and asking questions about how farming works!

Ms. Cate Meader, School Counselor

cmeader@hdcsd.org

Ms. Meader's Website

We are so excited to have access to a few pairs of translator earbuds at South Side! These tools look just like airpods, but they can translate whatever is being said instantly to another language. Here are some of the things we are using them for:

• Teacher instruction or read-alouds are instantly translated for our Spanish only speaking students

• Teacher and student conversation and small group instruction

• Student to student sharing and conversation

It has been so amazing to see how excited all of our students are to learn when they can get over the barrier of not being able to understand the language. They are helping our students to feel more included and they allow ALL students to work together, no matter the language they speak!

Franklin County Public Health and HD-CAL Nurses will give Flu shot on Tuesday, November 7, 3:00-7:00pm, during conferences. Flu shots will be available at the Hampton-Dumont Middle School.

• Bring insurance card if you have one
• Flu shots for non-insured and insured children up to 18 years of age
• No insurance for 18 years and over - $40.00

General Reminders:

• Do not send your child to school when they are sick - students must be fever, vomit, and diarrhea free for 24 hours without the use of medications before returning to school
• See a doctor for a child with eyes that are red or have a lot of yellow or white discharge
• Keep your child home if they have a sore throat, cough, headache, congestion, or body aches
• Be sure school has correct phone numbers/contact information

You may have heard your child talk about Mrs. Conlon, but who is she? Well, Mrs. Conlon wears many hats at North Side. Each day she takes students out to recess, helps scrape trays, monitors hallways, and helps to load students into cars during dismissal. Students also hear Mrs. Conlon's voice on the morning announcements each morning.

Mrs. Conlon's main job is to work with students who need extra practice in reading or math. She also travels to South Side for a short time in the afternoon. Mrs. Conlon absolutely loves being part of the H-D Elementary family. Go Bulldogs!

• Flu shots will be available for students during Parent/Teacher Conferences in November.

Monday, November 6, 2023

5:00-7:00pm at Hampton-Dumont High School

Sponsored by La Luz Centro Cultural and open to any and all nationalities. This is an opportunity for people in our area to share their cultures and traditions with each other.

Morning arrival:

7:45am - Doors open

8:00am - First bell

8:05am - Final bell - school day begins

Dismissal:

1:15pm - Preschool dismissal

3:00pm - Dismissal bell for grades K-4

(1:30pm - Wednesday dismissal bell for grades K-4)

Breakfast:

Served 7:45-8:15am

Find information, updates, photos, and more on our

Hampton-Dumont Elementary School Facebook page!